Nothing Special's 2022 Sand Hollow Utah trip

[Nothing Special]

OK, here's the actual trip report I've been teasing about! I've touched on the motorhome aspects of this trip in my motorhome thread, and on the Bronco-specific aspect in my Bronco thread. But now I'm finally getting around to the actual trip report.

It was 3 1/2 weeks ago now that we left on this trip. We drove out to Hurricane, Utah, in the southwest corner of the state, pretty close to St. George (I'll touch on the drive out and back at the end, but I'll start today by jumping into the 'wheeling). Zion National Park is about 20 miles north of Hurricane, and Bryce Canyon National Park is a little northeast of that. We visited both of those parks on this trip, but I'll talk about that later as well.

Sand Hollow State Park is just outside of Hurricane. If you are familiar with Matt's Off-Road Recovery (I know a few of you are, from a discussion in Gary's Big Blue Transformation thread) you know a bit about Hurricane and Sand Hollow. I've been watching videos of the area for years, and when Lesley wanted to do a 'wheeling / national parks trip to Zion and Bryce I knew where we'd 'wheel!

But knowing where and knowing anything about it are two different things! I did some searching, but wasn't able to find any decent maps until just before we left, when I found GPS tracks of the trails at Dixie 4 Wheel Drive. Then when we actually got to Sand Hollow we were able to buy a map that showed most of the 'wheeling area, but not in a lot of detail. However it did have difficulty levels assigned to the trails (on a 1 - 10 scale) which was very helpful.

The layout there was a little surprising to me as a newcomer. The 'wheeling isn't actually in Sand Hollow State Park. You need to pay to go through the park to get to the staging area. But from there you go through the tunnel that you often see in videos to get under a highway and you are now out of the park. The trails are actually in what I think is called Sand Mountain OHV Area, and from what I can tell you do not need to pay a fee to 'wheel there (but I could be wrong about that!!!). There is another access point at the south end of Sand Hollow Road. This is the road that goes along the west edge of the park, but you don't actually have to go into the park to get to this access point. All of that said, there's a pretty good chance that I'm missing some important info here, so don't take all of that as gospel!

But the Sand Mountain area is generally a big hillside, about 5 miles wide, that slopes up away and south from Sand Hollow State Park. Then maybe 5 miles up the hill it reaches a rim that plunges down. The trails are generally running up and down the hill, with the two access points at the bottom of the hill. The trails range from gravel roads to sandy 2-tracks to wide open dunes, to technical rock crawling. It's a big area, but you aren't really going to get lost. Just head down hill, toward the lake, and you'll get out.

We got to southwestern Utah during a rainy spell, so the sand and weather conditions weren't typical. But our first day promised to be pretty nice (maybe some rain, but it didn't come, partly cloudy and temp around 90). On this day we decided to start with Milt's Mile.

This trail is rated a 6 or 7 (depending on which map or sign you are looking at) on a scale of 1 - 10. It ended up being a good difficulty level for us. Quite a few places challenging enough that Lesley opted to get out and walk (which is how we get pictures and video!), but nothing that made me think I shouldn't try it (or at least bypasses around what I thought shouldn't try).

The trail starts near the access tunnel from Sand Hollow State Park and climbs up into the Sand Mountain OHV area a ways, then (according to the GPS track) turns and comes back down to the other access. The challenges were pretty much all in the first half as we climbed. The biggest challenge in the second half was finding the trail. But it wasn't a big deal if you lost the trail, you were just winding your way down to the exit anyway.

I did do the worst damage of the trip to the Bronco on this trail. At one point I picked a bad line (or executed a risky line badly) and bent one end of the front bumper back quite a bit. Oh well, that's what I have this for!

OK, enough talking, here are some pictures!

These last two pictures are where I bent the bumper

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n125000/DSC_3985.jpg

Here's the video from this day. Sorry that it's out of focus. That was my fault in messing up the settings on the camera. We fixed by the next day, but this days video is blurry. I think it's still fun to watch, but if it bothers you, just know it won't get better. And the bumper damage happens at about 6:10.

The whole trail was about 5 miles and took a little over 4 hours (including stops for lunch, pictures, evaluating damage and so on). It wasn't about 3:00 when we finished the trail, but we decided to call it a day and head back to camp at that point.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Man, you have that Bronco dialed in! It just goes through anything - except that rock that bent the bumper.

I sure like Lesley's comment: "I don't know. I have my eyes closed most of the time!"

Seriously, your changes have really made the Bronco more capable. The ground clearance is awesome as you aren't dragging things like you used to. Well done!

[Nothing Special]

Man, you have that Bronco dialed in! It just goes through anything - except that rock that bent the bumper.

I sure like Lesley's comment: "I don't know. I have my eyes closed most of the time!"

Seriously, your changes have really made the Bronco more capable. The ground clearance is awesome as you aren't dragging things like you used to. Well done!

A man's got to know his limitations. Or in this case, his and his vehicle's limitations. The Bronco is doing great at going everywhere I point it, but "through anything?" This was a 6 or 7 rated trail (and probably a 6) on a scale of 1-10. There's a lot I won't even try.

But that's OK, as long as I follow Clint's advice. The Bronco will do amazing things and go amazing places, I just need to keep in mind the limitations. I have thought about building a "big dog" trail rig that can go on the 8, 9 or 10 trails. Some day I might even do it! But I do know that the Bronco will never be that. It's too nice of a summer daily driver / Dairy Queen rig. So now it's pretty much where I want it.

I still want to build that skid plate, and there will always be a list of minor things to tweak. But I don't really see doing anything else major to it. If I do any major upgrades I'm pretty sure that will be to a different vehicle.

But I am loving the Bronco on the trails!

(And yes, there was no way I was going to cut Lesley's comment out! But to answer my question, yes, the left front tire did come off the ground.)

[Gary Lewis]

A man's got to know his limitations. Or in this case, his and his vehicle's limitations. The Bronco is doing great at going everywhere I point it, but "through anything?" This was a 6 or 7 rated trail (and probably a 6) on a scale of 1-10. There's a lot I won't even try.

But that's OK, as long as I follow Clint's advice. The Bronco will do amazing things and go amazing places, I just need to keep in mind the limitations. I have thought about building a "big dog" trail rig that can go on the 8, 9 or 10 trails. Some day I might even do it! But I do know that the Bronco will never be that. It's too nice of a summer daily driver / Dairy Queen rig. So now it's pretty much where I want it.

I still want to build that skid plate, and there will always be a list of minor things to tweak. But I don't really see doing anything else major to it. If I do any major upgrades I'm pretty sure that will be to a different vehicle.

But I am loving the Bronco on the trails!

(And yes, there was no way I was going to cut Lesley's comment out! But to answer my question, yes, the left front tire did come off the ground.)

We have a place near here called Disney where there is some really hard-core rock-crawling done. I've been there and don't even really like to watch as it is obvious that something and someone are going to get hurt.

So I'm not one of the guys that wants to do the 8 - 10 trails. And the ability of you and your Bronco to go through what look to be really tough stuff amazes me. In my opinion you are "there".

But there are the small things, like the skid plate, that can improve it incrementally.

[Nothing Special]

We have a place near here called Disney where there is some really hard-core rock-crawling done. I've been there and don't even really like to watch as it is obvious that something and someone are going to get hurt.

So I'm not one of the guys that wants to do the 8 - 10 trails. And the ability of you and your Bronco to go through what look to be really tough stuff amazes me. In my opinion you are "there".

But there are the small things, like the skid plate, that can improve it incrementally.

Lesley and I are big Disney fans! We've been on 5 Disney cruises, and have been to Walt Disney World a bunch of times!

Oh, not that Disney.

Seriously though, I have heard of the 4 wheeling area / park at Disney OK and hope to get there some time.

[Gary Lewis]

Lesley and I are big Disney fans! We've been on 5 Disney cruises, and have been to Walt Disney World a bunch of times!

Oh, not that Disney.

Seriously though, I have heard of the 4 wheeling area / park at Disney OK and hope to get there some time.

When the grandtwins were here a few months ago I mentioned going to Disney to our daughter. She said "Don't call it Disney! The kids will have the wrong idea!" So we called it Langley, which is the town at the other end of the Pensacola Dam.

Oddly enough, my mother lived in Langley part of her senior year in high school. Several of her brothers worked on building the dam and their mother set up house for them there.

So yes, there is some confusion with the name. But the rides are not nearly as tame in this Disney as it isn't unusual for the vehicles to fall off the rocks backward.

If you come please let me know! I'll meet you there.

[Nothing Special]

When the grandtwins were here a few months ago I mentioned going to Disney to our daughter. She said "Don't call it Disney! The kids will have the wrong idea!" So we called it Langley, which is the town at the other end of the Pensacola Dam.

Oddly enough, my mother lived in Langley part of her senior year in high school. Several of her brothers worked on building the dam and their mother set up house for them there.

So yes, there is some confusion with the name. But the rides are not nearly as tame in this Disney as it isn't unusual for the vehicles to fall off the rocks backward.

If you come please let me know! I'll meet you there.

i don't know when / if we'll come, but I'll definitely let you know if we do!

[Nothing Special]

i don't know when / if we'll come, but I'll definitely let you know if we do!

Day 2 wasn't a 'wheeling day... fortunately! It rained that day. All day. Hard. With flash flood warnings. We went to Zion National Park on day 2 and got soaked. But on the plus side, the crowds were manageable! And we got to see Zion in a different way than most, with raging rivers and dozens of waterfalls. It was really cool seeing it like that! Of course it's really cool seeing it the normal way too, and we didn't get to do that. So I guess we'll have to go back some time!

Here are some pictures.

This is the falls into Lower Emerald Pool, if anyone is familiar with the park and knows how it usually looks.

And this is the trail across the creek below Middle Emerald Pool. No sane person was crossing this on that day!

[Gary Lewis]

Day 2 wasn't a 'wheeling day... fortunately! It rained that day. All day. Hard. With flash flood warnings. We went to Zion National Park on day 2 and got soaked. But on the plus side, the crowds were manageable! And we got to see Zion in a different way than most, with raging rivers and dozens of waterfalls. It was really cool seeing it like that! Of course it's really cool seeing it the normal way too, and we didn't get to do that. So I guess we'll have to go back some time!

Here are some pictures.

This is the falls into Lower Emerald Pool, if anyone is familiar with the park and knows how it usually looks.

And this is the trail across the creek below Middle Emerald Pool. No sane person was crossing this on that day!

Wow! We've been to Zion, but it sure didn't look like that! Interesting. And different. I'll bet you'll remember that day.

[Nothing Special]

Wow! We've been to Zion, but it sure didn't look like that! Interesting. And different. I'll bet you'll remember that day.

Day three had better weather than day two. Not that it had a very high bar! But at least it wasn't raining yet, and it was only flash flood watches instead of flash flood warnings. So we headed to Sand Hollow for more 'wheeling, but opted for an easier trail in case the weather became an issue. We opted to take on West Rim trail (rated 6), with West Rim Lite (rated 3) following it in case we needed to step down a level.

Our first surprise was when we tried to get into the park. We were told that the tunnel was closed. So we turned around and headed for the other entrance to the trails, under the bridge. (When we got back to the tunnel a couple days later we saw marks from the sand being about 6' deep in the 10' high tunnel! So no wonder it wasn't open on Wednesday!)

Our second surprise was when we got to the other entrance. What had been a wide, smooth gravel road on Monday now had criss-crossing ruts about 3' deep! It wasn't too hard to pick my way through with the Bronco, but a roll-back wrecker had driven up it on Monday. That wasn't going to happen today!

At first the West Rim trail was pretty easy, with enough optional obstacles to keep it interesting. But as we got around to the farthest west part of the trail (around "the Lunchroom") it got to be more than we wanted. So we fell back to West Rim Lite and made our way down to Top of The World.

At that point the rain finally came, so we headed down Watertank Road, which is just an access road, so not difficult. But it turned out to be more a run down through the dunes than a road like I'm used to, so it was still pretty fun.

OK, here are the pictures and video of West Rim:

And here is a picture and the video of coming down Watertank Road. I'll warn you though, the last part of this video is shot from the passenger's seat as we bombed down at the breath-taking speed of 16 mph. The ride of a 51 year old truck off-road at that speed makes for ...interesting video! I think it's kind of fun, but if it's too hard to watch I won't be offended if you quit. And know that once that starts it stays that way until the end.

By the time we got down the rain had stopped, but we decided we were done 'wheeling for the day anyway. As we had been leaving on Monday we saw a group of Jeeps that had "made a call." One was broken and they were at the access point waiting for a wrecker. We waited to see if they had called Winder Towing (the on-road version of Matt's Off-Road Recovery), but it was a different company. So on this day we decided to swing by Matt's yard and at least see if I could get a T-shirt. I ended up meeting Trevor, who was a great guy! He invited me into the yard where I got to see the vehicles up close. And Lesley got to pet Peanut (one of the dogs in Matt's videos). So that was a cool part of the trip as well!

We finished up the day with a short hike in Red Reef, a little northwest of Hurricane. It went up a creek through a pretty deep canyon, and was pretty cool as well.